ABUJA-Delta State Governor, Rt. Hon. Sheriff Oborevwori, the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Olukayode Ariwoola and numerous Nigerians of repute paid glowing tributes at the Night of Tributes organized in honour of late Olorogun Barr. Kenneth Gbagi FNIM, OON, at the AIB Event Center, City Park, Wise Zone 2, Abuja, Nigeria’s capital.
The ceremony attracted dignitaries and sympathisers from all walks of life.
Speaking during the Night of Tributes, Oborevwori, represented by the Chief of Staff, Government House, Asaba, Johnson Erijo, described the late Urhobo and national patriot as an amiable personality, a man of valour and integrity and a great achiever, with unprecedented drive for success.
“Chief Kenneth Gbagi, a legal icon, consummate businessman, a committed politician and a devoted Christian. Olorogun Gbagi,was a forthright man who stocked to his ideals.
“Olorogun Gbagi, as the first Chairman of the Delta State Property Development Authority, he protected the interest of Delta in the sharing of assets between Delta and Edo.
“He put up an aggressive revenue drive in the agency which yielded dividends”, describing Gbagi, as a colossus in the business of property development.
Oborevwori, noted that Gbagi, always gives his best wherever he served including been a former Minister of State for Education, “here, again, he was very impactful”.
“Olorogun Gbagi, later made a fora into politics, he became the governorship candidate of the Social Democratic Party which he led during the 2023, election where he put up a good and strong fight against the PDP governorship candidate who is the governor today.
“He was an astute businessman who employed hundreds of youths. Like I said also, he was into property development where he branched off into the hospitality management where he also left an endearing legacy”.
He described the late industrialist as a great Deltan, focused, loving, committed development strategist, a wonderful family man, good and friendly personality.
Also, the former governor of Ekiti State, Kayode Fayemi, who told the mammoth crowd of how Gbagi, as the then minister of Education, established a federal University in his State, said Gbagi, was a passionate lover of his country, Nigeria.
“He earned my respect from just one encounter. I am not in any of the political parties which he belonged when he was alive but I was governor in Ekiti when he was a minister of State for Education saddled with the responsibility of establishing new federal Universities in States with federal Universities.
“And Ekiti has been identified as one of those States and he called me out of the blues and said he was coming to Ekiti. I believed he came in the company of the executive secretary of the NUC, Prof. Okoje and his friend who happens to be my own lawyer, Mr. Demian Dodo SAN.
“They came to Ekiti and for those who knows him very well, he was courageous, bold. He never met me, he just came to my office and said, Excellency, where will this University going to be? Just direct like that.
“I haven’t given much thought to this but we already had a University in the capital, in the central senatorial district of our State and another University in the south, we had none in the northern senatorial district. So, I said the University is going to be in the north and he said where? Can we get into the car and go to the site.
“I said honourable minister, you have just come to see me and he said no, we have to take that decision today, before I go to Abuja, in the spur of the moment I said okay, get in the car let’s go.
“And we drove all the way to Ekole-Ekiti, the largest town in the northern part of our State and I said honourable minister the University will be sited here and he said okay, where is the place?
“We looked for a huge expanse of land with the executive secretary of NUC and his good friend Mr. Dodo, decided over there and he said we will take this back to Abuja.
“On the spur of the moment, he asked is this your town Your Excellency and I said no. He said well, before coming here we been to other States and all the governors in these States we are going to establish these Universities, they all took us to the governor’s home town, yours is strange, where are you from?
“I told him, he said why are you not desirous of the University been sited in your community? I said what is important is that for the University to be sited in the appropriate place and this is a good place for the University to be.
“He was very struck by that but he didn’t do anything. The next thing he said to me was who will be the Vice Chancellor of the University?
“Believe it or not, we appointed the Vice Chancellor of the University on the spot at that same venue on that same day. Later, the federal government decided that the Vice Chancellors will not serve in their states.
“So, the gentleman who we appointed who was professor in the United States, was relocated to federal University in Otuoke, Bayelsa State. There was some controversies in the siting of the University but he stood his ground.
“The party people; of course I was governor representing the Action Congress of Nigeria, at a time and he was representing the PDP. The PDP members in my State wanted the University somewhere else and they were able to convince President Jonathan.
“And he was very bold, he told the president that we would site the University where the governor of the State wants the University to be and eventually we had to settle for a compromise. So, Ekiti federal University is the only University with a multi-campus system.
“The one that the PDP wanted and the one that i suggested. So, up till today, the Federal University is both Oye and Ikole-Ekiti both in the northern part of the State, we became close since then.
“He went back started the University and worked hard on it but before he left, he called and said it is still strange to me that you never asked us to site this University in your community but I have decided whether you like it or not, I am going to put a federal girls’ government college in your community and he did.
“Unilaterally, he sited the federal Model Girls College in my community before he felt this is usual in Nigeria, with your influence if you want this to happen in his community and that is Ken, for you.
“Ken would fight a course he believes in without caring whether he will be a personal beneficiary of that course or not. Bold, courageous, a man of kindeous, dedicated to service in the community and 5o humanity.
“And I believe that the greatest tribute is what shall be said of us when we were no longer here. I am sure there will be several testimonies like mine from anyone who had the grace and the favour to have been associated with this gentleman”, he prayed God for the late Gbagi, to continue to rest well in the bosom of the Lord.
Also, Chief Bayo Ojo, former Attorney General of the Federation, lamented the death of his dear friend and brother who died on 4th May 2024.
According to him, “I was inna state of shock and disbelieve and still wish that it was not true. Because the last time we spoke, he had just come back from London, then, he assured me that he will be in Abuja, soon and will stop to see me but alas, that is no more.
“I met the accomplished lawyer, consummate man, bar man about two two and half decades ago (25 years ago) in the course of my bar activities. We instantly stuck a friendship and brotherhood which was uncanny and inexplicable.
“It was what I will call brotherhood at first sight. Little did I know then that it was a relationship that will last for his entire life. I recall in 2003, when I decided to run for the position of the president of the National Bar Association.
“He was one of the first person I consulted. He was not only very responsive and supportive, he was also very positive about the outcome and he went out of his way to vigorously campaign for me.
“His efforts contributed in no small measure for me in winning the election. Olorogun, as I fondly call him, was a brave, fearless and highly principled person who hated injustice in any form.
“As a matter of fact, if anyone offends you and you make the mistake of letting him know that you have been offended, by the time you settle with that per, he is still fighting your battle. You will have to beg him that please, I have settled with the person before he would agree to pulse.
“Now, as a dogged advocate and fighter, he never shied away from taking positions that were not popular but he nevertheless believed in. His career all these years and legal engagement, is a narrative that borders on consuming passion and quest for social justice and equity.
He was uncompromising in anything he believed in but had a deep sitter love for good and harmonious co-existence among the divers people and nationalities of Nigeria.
“This he demonstrated in his friendship with me when he came in full force to attend the burial of my late mom in my village in Kogi State in 2007, he was also a bridge builder of some sort and his bridge building capacity is evident in broad network of friends and associates. It is across the north and south of Nigeria, and all walks of life.
“These traits, he exhibited in the creation of new Universities that he created during his tenure as minister of State for Education under President Goodluck Jonathan and I am happy that His Excellency, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, has testified to this.
“He will be sadly missed, may the good soul of my friend and brother rest in the bosom of the Lord and God grant the family the fortitude to bear the lost. Olorogun, though the music has stopped suddenly and unexpectedly, the melody will surely continue as you will forever live in our hearts”.
The Senator, representing Delta Central Senatorial District at the National Assembly (NASS), Senator Ede Dafinone, noted with nostalgia that the late senior lawyer, lived a life full of love.
Hear him: “Going through the brochure Tributes, what is very easily evident is a life full of love and a life that is more than complete.
“If you go through all the businesses that Kenneth had, you wonder whether they belong to just one man. From security, to hotels, shopping malls to becoming a minister of the federal Republic of Nigeria, Chairman of law review board, I believe it was. His life and career span through many aspect.
“I am here standing before you not really as a Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, but as a friend and brother to Kenneth Gbagi. You see, I know Kenneth going back to 1998 and the politics of that time was staring.
“We played a little bit of politics and I got to know him quite well in those days but I can boast that I have only ever slept in one person’s house outside of mine in Delta State and thay was in Kenneth’s house and I stayed there frequently in those political days.
“So, know Kenneth in those days of Geekos Security that he operated in Ijora. In fact, I remember accompanying him to see one management of health, trying to sell some smoked alarm machines, that was how close we were, I accompanied him to his market trips.
“Really, Kenneth was completely unstoppable, it will be hard to find who did not take to him, he had a loving spirit, nothing challenged him, he was ready to take on everything.
“Going back maybe to the last six and seven heads of states, Kenneth knows everybody, he will make his way through any room and be comfortable in any situation.
“He stood by me when I had challenges, various challenges. Just one, in the early days of PDP, I took part in some elections, I wasn’t contesting, I was supporting candidates.
“As at 4:30am, I got visited by the police, they had come to arrest me for one reason or the other. I had done nothing wrong but it was politics and that was how it was played out and so I called him around 4:30 in the morning and I said Kenneth, they are here to arrest me, you have to make some calls and get them off my back
“And by 6 O’clock, the DPO was still my house and he was phoning me to complain that they should stop calling him and that the calls were too much.
“Kenneth, had my back and I could call him anytime in any situation to come to my aid and he did so very many times. So, I am here to say goodnight to my friend and brother. He was truly dependable and I will solely miss him”.
Others who spoke talked about their very eventful and impactive memories they had with the enigma, captain of industry, dogged, innovative mind and mentor in all ramifications.
Aside those who shared their endearing moments with him at the tributes night, former Governor of Delta State, Chief James Onanefe Ibori, Senator James Manager, former senator who represented Delta South Senatorial District, the monarch of Idjere Kingdom, Ovie Monday Whiskey, former Minister of Petroleum, Ibe Kachukwu, Alhaji Shehu Gabam, National Chairman of SDP, Chief Ominimini who represented Elder statesman, national leader of the Ijaw nation and former Minister of Information, Chief E. K Clark, Barr. Philips Edewor, Presiden, Urhobo Progress Union (UPU), Abuja, branch, Archbishop Goddowell Avwomakpa and a host of others.
